


Don't Judge a Book by Its Club Members

by Pearlqueen55



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Books, Comedy, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Original Character(s), Romantic Comedy, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Virginity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:53:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21971233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearlqueen55/pseuds/Pearlqueen55
Summary: Dan is in his junior year of college where he is getting ready to start applying to law school. His advisor tells him that he needs to join a club on campus to make himself more well-rounded, which leads him to joining the school's Book Club where they are reading the book Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. He figured that the club will be pretty chill since everyone is going to be pretty boring and anti-social like himself, right?Right?(AU American College)
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! My name is Mir and this is my first ever phanfic! I am so excited to be writing this story since it is an idea that I have been thinking about for a while and I hope that I can do it justice. Comments are very appreciated! :) Enjoy!

“Should I be alarmed if I am 21 and still a virgin?”

“You? Oh yeah.”

Dan he took a sip from his morning coffee and replied back with a sigh, “Yeah, that’s what I thought too.”

PJ laughed and touched his shoulder in mock comfort while Dan rolled his eyes.

Currently, they were both sitting at their favorite study lounge on campus where PJ was trying to finish a movie script that was due that night at 11:59pm for his class. He kept having to brush away the curly brown hair from the front of his glasses while he worked and would pull the front of his black sweater to his mouth when he would read back on what he just wrote.

Since it was a Thursday at passing period, there were other students all around them talking with their friends, trying to last minute study, or finding a place to sit away from the rain outside.

Dan had just finished a midterm in his poli-sci class and was just there to dick around while going through the post-exam shock. He laid his head on the table and closed his eyes. He had pulled an all-nighter and was ready to just let his body fall asleep the minute he gets back to his apartment. He thought that the midterm went all right but he also would not be surprised if the class average was 45%. Gotta love junior year and class curves.

PJ rubbed his face with his painted baby blue nails and said, “Listen, it’s not like I think that being a virgin is bad or anything. Virginity rocks! I am just saying that you being a virgin is really sad since you are like the most sexual person I know.”

“I think you mean most sexual virgin you know,” Dan mumbled back with his face still pressed on the table that they were sitting at.

“Even so, you don’t exactly have a good reason for still being one,” he continued as he was stretching out his limbs, “You aren’t saving yourself for marriage the last time I checked and you rejected literally every person that has ever tried to flirt with you at every party.

“That is a bit of an overstatement.”

PJ had been his first friend in college since they were paired together during their freshman year in the dorms. Dan was fully prepared to not have any friends as he found that talking to people and putting actual effort was exhausting and scary, but the power of PJ was able to pull him out of his shell. Through dragging Dan to other people’s parties, having late night tea conversations about their hopes and dreams, or playing Mario Kart for the hundredth time that day, they consider each other to be their closest friend.

“Sophomore year Sandra told me on multiple drunk accounts on how she has been trying to hook up with you. Also Nick always laughs way too hard at your lame jokes because he is trying to get into your pants.” he replied cheekily while poking the motionless Dan.

Dan got up and returned to his coffee, “Yeah but I don’t want to sleep with Sandra or Nick.”

“No one is asking you too. But for someone that claims that they never meet anyone, you surely have more options than you are letting on.”

“It’s not that I don’t think that they are attractive, it's just that I just…” Dan trailed off biting his lip as he was concentrating on his cup.

“Just what?” PJ prodded

“Just don’t want to be laughed at because I am so inexperienced,” Dan said slowly, “we are at an age where people are just expecting that you are done everything. Like, jesus, Sandra told me that after two dates with a guy she was already tempted on doing anal! I don’t want to be that inexperienced prude that has never actually looked at a vagina or dick before. What if it doesn’t look like what I think it’s supposed to look like and then its just awkward for everyone?”

PJ laughed out loud, “You’ve watched porn, you know what it looks like.”

“How do you know I’ve watched porn?”

“We are roommates, I know you watch porn.”

Dan smirked as he downed the last of his cup.

PJ started to type his script again and replied, “Listen, there is nothing wrong with being inexperienced. In fact, a lot of people would think that it’s sexy and I don’t know like a kink? Also not that I am not loving this conversation, but why are we having a conversation about your lack of sexual endeavors?”

Dan sighed out, “My brother has a new girlfriend.”

“Oy that’s great. But again, why is this related?”

Dan crumpled his cup in front of him and said, “Is there something sad about the fact that my little brother is already in his third relationship while if I try to talk to someone that I like, I might cry? I don’t know, I feel like lightyears behind everyone else.”

PJ stopped typing and looked at his friend with care. “Listen, everyone goes at their own pace. How you choose to live your life should not be compared to others. Plus, it’s not a race! Things will happen when they happen. Don’t let this fear of being inexperienced hold you back from actually pursuing something with someone. No one cares if you never touched a boob before.”

Dan grumbled, “Easy for you to say, you hook up with a new girl every week and everyone loves you.”

PJ lightly punched his cheek and said, “Buck up, camper. Things will work themselves out. Instead of, I don’t know, getting scared about becoming the 40 year-old virgin, why don’t you just enjoy your year and not care about societal pressures.”

“You make it sound so easy.” Dan said trying to pour some of the left over coffee drops on him.

“Hey! Fuck off,” PJ laughed while trying to shove him away, “I have to really finish this group project by myself since the other members are trash. The professor for this class grades crazy hard so I have to like actually try. You just took a midterm, go be loopy and sleep-deprived in your own bed.”

Dan giggled and replied, “Alright, alright, I’ll leave. I have a pre-law advising appointment so I need to head over. When I get home, I’m probably going to be passed out all day.”

“I expect nothing less,” he said back with a warm smile.

\--

It’s not that Dan is scared that he will not get into law school, it’s more of the fact that he will be more scared of what will happen if he doesn’t get in. He is sitting in the waiting room to be called into his advisor’s office and he can already tell that it is going to be a long session. There are so many factors that he has to ask about that he has not even considered yet. LSAT, letters of recommendations, whether of not his GPA is good enough, are his extracurriculars meaningful, and so on. Nothing like an existential crisis or two every week to keep him humbled. He has reached a point where he does not remember what it was like to not be stressed about something.

“Dan?” a voice called out, interrupting his thoughts.

His advisor was holding a clipboard and motioned for him to come into her office on the side. She was an older woman who wore her hair in a tight bun with black slacks and the campus faculty shirt.

She was not smiling.

Dan followed her into the small room and sat down on the chair opposite of her desk. This was not his first time.

“How are you doing, Joanne?” he asked with a smile in an attempt to try and butter her up.

“Not too bad so let’s just get right into it,” she replied back while taking a seat on her desk and pulling up his file on her computer.

The appointment went smoother than expected. She told Dan that his GPA was good and he would be able to apply next cycle if he did not want to take the LSAT again to try to raise his score. They also made a plan to set him on track for graduation and answered some questions on his application.

After reviewing everything, she said, “It seems like you should be good to apply with your stats and extracurriculars, so I am not too worried about you getting into a great law school. However, I am a bit curious to see that you are barely a part of any school clubs.”

Dan replied back without missing a beat, “I am in the pre-law organization as well as the debate team.”

“Yes, I see but it seems like you are missing something more personal. While being actively involved in these communities are important, you also need something to set you apart from the rest of the other applicants. You have to show these schools that you are passionate about other things other than just law and how you express that. Something more individualistic.”

Dan was taken aback. It seemed that since the beginning of college, he has been conditioned to try to just get into law school. His parents had always suggested the idea to him since it was a respected occupation. It was all that he knew and he was not sure what else he was interested in. Why did law schools even care about that? Don’t they want someone who is committed to the subject and craft?

As if reading his mind, Joanne said, “It shows that you would be well-rounded and not someone who is antisocial and spends all of his time in his room in the books.”

“Is it sad if that’s not too off the mark?”

Typing on her computer, Joanne replied, “I am going to email you a website where you can look at all the clubs that are available on campus. I would recommend that you try reaching out and see if you can still join. Most clubs are pretty low commitment since they only require showing up to a few meetings. See if anything interests you and maybe you could use it as material to write your personal statements.”

“What if I don’t like any of the clubs on this list? Then what?”

“I am sure that there will be at least one to inspire you. Who knows, maybe you might end up actually enjoying it more than you think.”

Dan bit the inside of his lip while she typed.

\--

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Dan awoke with a start and tried to find his phone that was buried under his sheets so that he could turn off the alarm. When he was finally able to grab it from under his pillow, he groaned when he saw that it was only 7 am. He forgot to turn it off last night after he got an email from his professor saying their class was cancelled. He proceeded to shove his face back into his pillow to try and go back to sleep.

“Dan, get up! I heard your alarm! I made too much coffee and I need someone to drink it so it won’t go to waste!”

Rolling his eyes, Dan got up from his warm and comfortable bed to go out into the kitchen to see his roommate pouring coffee into two mugs of which one was a Hello Kitty one and another was a simple plain black one.

“Why do you always insist on getting me out of my heavenly bed at this ungodly hour?”

Maya smiled at him and replied, “Please, if it weren't for me you would be sleeping in until the next day. This way, we would at least know that you were alive in there.” She giggled to herself before replying, “Anyways, there’s something about sharing a morning coffee that makes it more special. Which mug do you want?”

“Hello Kitty of course, it would be a sin otherwise.”

She rolled her eyes and handed him the cat mug before taking an appreciated sip from her own.

Maya was a friend that PJ and Dan had sort of made by accident. She ended up dating their douchey ex-roommate Paul during sophomore year and would be over all the time. The polite ‘hello’s to each other gradually turned into night ice cream runs, roasting each other with affection while eating dinners together, and actual consideration. While PJ and Dan despised everything that Paul did, they could not help but grow to love Maya. Paul and her both ended up breaking up after she found out that he had been cheating on her with an 18 year-old high schooler and have been ancient history ever since. She claimed that Paul was an “insignificant fling in her life that needed to happen so that she could grow from it.” PJ and Dan later confirmed that she was using him for the Netflix password that she still uses to this day. She ended up moving in with PJ and Dan junior year after they told Paul to move out.

Maya is a fierce pre-med student who always is running out of the house, whether it be for class, research, or work but always makes time with the boys to watch bootleg live musicals. Having both her and PJ made Dan love coming home to an apartment full of laughter and affection. That is, of course, when they are not arguing about whether or not General Shang in Mulan is bi or not. He would never bring up that conversation and risk World War 3.

Dan moved to sit on the kitchen bar stool while she stood in the leaning against the island while blowing in her warm mug.

She ran a hand through her hair and asked with a mischievous grin on her face, “Have you heard what happened to Kevin and Leah?”

Dan rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and asked with mock curiosity, “Oh do tell.”

“They broke up because he found out that she was hooking up with Jake the whole time.”

He squinted and tried to remember who Jake was. “Was that his..friend?”

“Yep. Best friend. Cindy told me about it yesterday in lab. She also told me that his roommates are going to throw him a party to help him get through it.”

“So a break up party?”

“Seems so. We should go, it could be fun.”

Dan gave her a knowing look and replied, “You hate house parties.”

“No you hate house parties. I think it could be interesting. Plus the bars have been pretty bleh lately so maybe a party is something that could be worthwhile.”

Dan rested his head on in his hand and looked down to stare at the counter. Parties always seemed to put his social anxiety at max capacity since everyone was either drinking way too much or seeming to be judging everything that he was doing. It would be so much easier if he didn’t give a shit about what people thought of him but he cared too much. But maybe he would consider going if PJ was thinking about going as well.

Maya checked the time on the oven clock and quickly drank the rest of her cup. “I gotta go or I’m going to be late for work. Don’t coop up in here all day, go out and do something! Also me and Peej were thinking of doing pizza tonight, wanna join in on that?”

“Yes, mom. And forget pizza, let’s do Indian food! It’s so much better,” he whined back after tossing her keys from the counter to her.

“I have a coupon for free toppings!” She rushed out the door and called out, “Bye! Have a great day! Love you, son!”

Dan walked up to lock the door behind her and sat on the couch in the living room. He took out his phone to go through his normal morning social-media check up to see how things were looking in the world. He saw that people he knew from his childhood were getting engaged or starting to have kids. Seeing those pictures on his phone made him scroll even faster to not think about it for too long.

When he started to go through his messages, he saw the email that his advisor had sent to him yesterday about joining a club. He internally groaned remembering her words about selling himself to be well-rounded or some shit like that and clicked on the link. He didn’t have class today, so he might as well see if there was something that he was interested in. He was brought to a site that had a pretty hefty list of different clubs that were available on campus. He let out a deep breath before started to scroll down.

Dan didn’t think it would be that hard to find something, but he quickly rethinks it as he gets close to the bottom of the list without so much of an interest in anything. It is not like he is opposed to making new friends and going outside. It’s just he’s already got his two friends and he likes his apartment so what more is there to look for?

When he got to the bottom of the list, he saw the one club that did not sound too intimidating.

Book Club

He honestly could not remember the last time that he read a book for fun. His entire time was spent studying law books and trying to memorize every detail which was definitely not fun. Plus it seemed to be like a club where other fellow nerds would just sit around in silence and read together which was something that he could totally get behind.

He clicked on the name and it sent him to a Facebook page where there was a couple of pictures of the club members as well as a bio that read:

_**Have you ever wanted to meet a group of like-minded fellow book readers? Have you ever wanted to talk about your favorite themes and ideas about your favorite stories? Have you just wanted to touch an actual book? Well look no further! Come to our campus’s first (and arguably coolest) Book Club where everyone is welcome to join and experience the power of literature.** _

Dan couldn’t make up his mind on whether the bio was funny or geeky, but it had definitely caught his interest. He remembered that he used to read a lot when he was a little kid since he didn’t really have a lot of friends. Maybe there was some sort of hidden love that had the potential to be re-kindled from this club. Okay now he was being geeky.

Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he tried to check the page to see if they were still taking any members. After searching for a couple minutes, his impatience got the best of him and he directly messaged the page:

_Hello! I was wondering if you guys were still taking members for this semester?_

Dan felt his stomach churn with anticipation and a little bit of fear. He didn’t really have much on an interest with any of the other clubs on campus so if this one falls through, then he might have to go back and join something he’s not really into. After a few seconds, he felt his phone vibrate and looks down to see the reply:

_Hey Dan! We actually just finished up our last book reading last week so we are starting a new book. You are welcomed to come to our meeting tonight at Oakland Hall at 6pm if you are interested! Since I am president of the club, I can run it by the other executive members that you are coming if you are interested :) We would love to have you and we always welcome new members to join!_

Dan was a bit surprised at both the fast reply and the fact that there was a meeting today. He didn’t really have a lot going on today, so it really couldn’t hurt that he go to the meeting. A part of him grew anxious as he was always a bit terrified of going into a new social setting-especially when he did not have anyone else that he knew going with him. He also thought about going back into Joanne’s office and face her wrath if he didn’t come out with a way to join a club.

He decided that one meeting couldn’t hurt.

_That sounds awesome! I would love to come! Is there anything that I need to bring and also what was your name so that I could look out for you?_

Like before, his phone lit with a reply within seconds.

_No materials needed! We are providing the books so all you have to do is provide the brain power! My name is Phil btw! I look forward to meeting you :)_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the comments! I am really happy with how this chapter turned out. Please let me know what you think <3

Dan stood outside of the hallway as he looked at the door that was standing before him. He sighed to himself and wondered if going to this Book Club meeting would even be worth it and whether or not people would think he was some weirdo. He thought that if he walked away now, he could save himself from all the potential awkward moments he would make and pretend that this never happened. 

As tempting as the idea sounded, he had already told the club president that he was going to be there. He would rather be the loser at the club than the dick that stood them up.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door open. 

The room was alive. 

There were people chatting and laughing among themselves while others were setting up chairs in a chairs into a circle. In total, Dan would say that there were around 15 people that were in the room and they all talked to each other like close friends. 

So much for thinking that everyone would be antisocial.

He saw that people were starting to take their seats in the circle arrangement, so he quietly walked in and sat down between two empty ones-letting himself stay isolated. He took out his phone and browsed through his socials to not look as awkward as he was feeling.

After a couple of minutes, he saw a figure take the seat next to him from the corner of his eye. 

“Wow that’s a face I have never seen before!” a voice asked him with amusement. 

Dan turned his head towards the voice and was greeted by a brown haired guy with slightly tan skin. He had a little bit of stubble on his chin and present dark circles under his eyes. He was wearing an olive green sweater with khakis and white Converse. He smiled and Dan and asked, “What’s your name, new face?”

“Uh, Dan,” he replied back, a tad bit timidly. 

“Nice to meet you, uh Dan. My name is Chris but I also go by handsome and charming by my close friends,” he said in a professional tone before sticking his hand out and shaking Dan’s firmly. 

“Chris, stop messing with the new member, you’re gonna scare him off” said another guy’s voice that came to sit on Dan’s other side. This guy was fair-skinned and had dirty blonde hair that was stylishly pushed up and had dark rimmed glasses over his green eyes. He was wearing a lavender hoodie that said  _ Content Creator _ on it topped with blue jeans and black Vans. “Besides,” he added, “your friends would be the last ones to ever call  _ you _ handsome and charming.”

Chris leaned back into his chair and pretending that he was stabbed in the stomach, “Ohh, Tyler you hurt me even though we both know you love me.” 

Tyler rolled his eyes with a smile and said, “Please Chris, you are so not my type. Plus if I wanted you, then you would  _ know  _ it.” He gave him a wink and then turned his attention to Dan. “Sorry about chaotic Chelsea over there. But hey Dan my name is Tyler and I am the VP of the club. Phil told us that you were thinking about coming to our meeting tonight.” Tyler placed his hand on Dan’s shoulder as if to appear more welcoming 

“Oh heh, it’s not a problem.” Dan chuckled back awkwardly. “Thanks for having me crash this meeting.” 

“Hmm you came at a perfect time,” Chris chipped in. “We are starting a new book today. Maybe this is fate?”

“Whatever it may be, we are happy to have you here, Dan. We hope that you end up enjoying the club as much as we do.” Tyler smiled 

Dan gave a polite smile back to both Chris and Tyler. There were both definitely interesting characters.

At this point, the circle in the room was pretty much full with people. After a few moments, Tyler checked his watch for the time and announced, “Hello everyone! I think that we are just going to get things started. Phil is running a little late since he is bringing in the books for us, so I will be starting meeting.” He clapped his hands together in excitement as everyone in the group watched. 

“As you all may or may not know, we have a new member with us today by the name of Dan Howell.” he said, gesturing towards Dan.

“Hear! hear!” everyone in the room chanted.

Dan was startled a bit and gave a shy smile before saying, “Thanks for having me.”

Tyler continued, “Why don’t we go around the room and introduce ourselves to Mr. Dan since our cutie president is not here yet. I’ll start!” Putting his hands on his hips and smiling, he said, “My name is Tyler, I am a third year Social Media and Marketing major here on campus. I am the vice president of the club and I love Sunday brunches because bottomless mimosas are my middle name.” 

Everyone laughed and then kept on going around the room. 

As each person stated their name and major, Dan began to realize that everyone seemed so inhibited. He felt as if they were all genuine with each other and not putting up some front. He could tell that there was a lot of trust within this group that allowed them all to be their own individual selves. When it came time to his turn to give an introduction, he grew a little more confident.

“Hey, guys. My name is Dan and I am a third year student majoring in poli-sci. I enjoy having all-nighters while watching endless amounts of anime. You can usually catch me face-planting on my apartment floor having an existential crisis.” 

Everyone giggled and he could see Chris snickering next to him in approval. 

Maybe Dan was not as much of an outsider as he thought. 

“Well I for one can get behind endless amounts of anime,” said a voice that came near the doorway. Dan around in his seat to see a lanky and tall guy with hair that was a mixture between being ginger and black that was pushed up into a quiff. He was  _ super  _ pale and was holding a huge box with both of his hands. He was wearing black skinny jeans with a denim jacket and white t shirt underneath with bright green shoes. He had on a warm goofy smile that seemed to make him look innocent with his thick glasses.

Dan couldn’t deny that the guy that was standing there was super attractive and internally cursed to himself. If he knew that people were cute, he might have actually tried to look better. 

Tyler got up from his seat and walked over to the newcomer. “About time, sweetie! We were just introducing ourselves to Dan. Do you need help carrying those in?”

Phil replied, “Nah I think I should be okay. The book store that donated these to us were so nice and offered me to stay for a cup of tea. Plus they had a really cute dog and it would be a crime to not cuddle with it.” He carried the box to the middle of the circle where he dropped it to the ground with a soft thud. He put his hands behind on his lower back like he was stretching or just deep in thought about what the next move was going to be.

“Oy, Phil!” Chris exclaimed, “When are you going to tell us what we are going to be reading next?”

Phil laughed and replied, “Always as patient as ever, Chris. But yes I have kept you all waiting for too long about our next book and let me tell you that ever since exec has voted on this one, I have literally been shitting myself for how excited I am.” 

The girl who said her name was Meg earlier chided, “He has been literally blowing up our group chat about it for weeks!”

Everyone laughed and Phil shrugged with a grin before taking out a book. 

He hid the cover of the book to his chest before anyone could see the title. “I have loved this book ever since the movie came out,” he turned around slowly to look at everyone while he spoke. “I know that there is this idea that you have to read the book before watching the movie, but hey I guess I’m the world’s lamest rule-breaker.”

Dan smiled to himself.

“To say that I fangirled over this book is a bit of an understatement. It is so simple yet so beautiful and I can’t wait for us to be able to read it together and discuss the themes and ideas that come from it.” Phil took a pause to lightly tap on the back of the book with his fingers. “I really hope that you all enjoy the work as much as I have and that we can learn something meaningful from it.” He turned the book around and showed everyone the title with pride: 

_ Call Me By Your Name _

There were a few happy claps and triumphant grunts when everyone saw the cover. 

Tyler put a hand to his mouth and said, “Finally! It’s about time that we read something LGBQT. It was getting very vanilla in here.”

Dan was in awe at the speech that Phil had given and was starting to wonder what he was getting himself into. Phil had shown passion for this club in front of him-which was something that he was not really used to. Dan would join an extracurricular because it looked good on law school, not because he actually enjoyed it. 

Phil coughed awkwardly after his lecture and said, “I uh forgot to also introduce myself to our new member-that is if I haven’t scared him off yet,” which earns a few chuckles. My name is Phil and I am a fourth year majoring in  English Language and Linguistics. I have been in the club for three years and I am also president. Going back to talking about the book, the main plot follows a love story between two men in the city of Italy. Just a fair warning, this book has a lot of sex in it so if that is a problem just let me know!”

Chris called out, “Lots of sex makes it more interesting to read!”

Phil rolled his eyes playfully and said, “We will be meeting every couple of weeks to talk about sections that we have read. First this period, we can read the first 100 pages and then talk about it. If you have any concerns or questions, you are free to come to talk to either me or anyone else in exec. I promise I don’t bite, but I can’t say the same for Tyler.”

“Rude!” Tyler said.

“That being said, I think that we are done for this meeting, please make sure to grab a book on the way out!”

People were starting to get up and make their way to the center of the circle to get a book from the box. 

Dan got up as well and put his backpack over his shoulder before moving to collect a book for himself. This club was for sure quirky, but they also seemed like a lot of fun. He also thought that the club must have been worth it if it made Phil stay in the club for three years. 

After grabbing his own copy from Tyler who was distributing them out, he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

“Hey Dan! I’m so glad that you were able to make it after our Facebook convo.” Phil greeted him with a smile on his face. 

“Haha yeah. You guy are all really nice.Thanks again for letting me join, I’m really looking forward to reading  _ Call Me By Your Name.  _ I’ve never heard of it before,” Dan said, scratching the back of his head. 

“No, the pleasure is all mine. I apologize in advance if we seem insane, but most of the time everyone in the club is super chill.” Phil said with a laugh.

Dan thought that he was attractive before, but that had nothing on to how good looking Phil was up close. He had long eyelashes as well as brilliant blue eyes. His smile was sincere and when Phil looked at him it made him feel that he cared about everything that Dan was going to say. It was not like the people that Dan was used to talking to when first meeting. 

Interrupting Dan’s thoughts, Phil said, “The book is great by the way. I would be careful looking it up though because the internet is full of nasty spoilers.”

Dan groaned, “Tell me about it. Spoilers are my biggest pet peeve. When Game of Thrones ended, I had to delete all social media for a week so that I wouldn’t know what happened.” 

“Honestly! Anytime I start a new show, I have to chuck my laptop out of my window to stop myself from getting spoiled! The worst I think is movies though.”

“Oh a 100%. I love the internet but sometimes Twitter is a deadly tool meant to give me the plot ending to every rom-com I want to watch.”

They both laughed and Phil replied, “Well, you have to let me know what you think of the book next meeting. I’m sure that you will love it.”

Dan gave him a slight nod and replied, “Looking forward to it.”

\---

“There’s our party animal,” PJ said to Dan from the living room sofa after Dan had just walked in. He was sitting with Maya who were sharing a box of pizza while watching  _ The Nightmare Before Christmas  _ on their TV.

Dan began to take off his shoes after setting his bag down. “Oh yes a book club. The most wild party to have ever existed.”

“Did you make any new friends?” Maya asked between bites of pizza. She was leaning against PJ and had her feet up on the extra space on the couch. 

Dan came up to her and moved her feet before plopping down next to them on the other end. “Sort of? Everyone was great but I don’t think I would consider us all to be friends yet.”

“Meet anyone cute?” Maya asked with a mischievous grin.

Dan’s mind instantly went to Phil and his easy laugh and colored eyes. “Um not really. I wasn’t really looking I guess.”

PJ went down to grab another slice and asked, “Was it better than you thought it was going to be? Like do you think that you will actually join?”

“Yeah, I think so. I had fun and the people were cool so I might stick around. We are starting to read this book called  _ Call Me By Your Name _ and a lot of people seemed to be excited by it.”

“I  _ love  _ that book!” Maya exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Ugh I’m so jealous. I wish that hadn’t already read it so that I can experience it all again.” 

PJ nodded in agreement, “I heard that the movie is really well done too. We should all watch it after you finish the book, Dan.”

“Sounds like a date to me,” he replied, grabbing his own slice from the pizza box on the coffee table. “Also why are you watching  _ Nightmare Before Christmas?” _

Maya replied, “I don’t know, we were bored and it seemed like a good idea. We always fight about what to watch so we just rolled with this. If you think about it, this movie really gets its coin. Like it will be shown on tv both during Halloween  _ and  _ Christmas season.”

“Talk about marketing goals,” PJ mused out loud. 

Dan leaned his head back against the cushion while eating his pizza. He was deep in thought about the night that just happened and was starting to feel himself grow with excitement. He didn’t really like stepping out of his comfort zone, but he had a great time doing it tonight. He was starting to feel a lot more bold.

“Why don’t we go to Kevin’s party tomorrow?”

Both Maya and PJ looked at him like he was an alien from another planet. 

“You want to go to a party? Willingly? Without us having to drag you by your feet?” asked PJ with a shocked tone. 

“Peej, I don’t think this is our Dan. I think the book club gave us a new one that likes to socialize with other people.” 

Dan rolled his eyes and replied, “Haha. Very funny. But fuck it, lets go. It could be fun plus we can’t be stuck in here for another weekend watching  _ Glee  _ reruns.”

“Oh I agree with the new Dan. I’m down, let’s do it.” Maya said with a happy smile on her face. 

Dan and her turned to PJ, awaiting his answer. 

PJ sighed and replied, “You both know that I’m never one to say no to a party. Especially when Dan is the one who is suggesting it.”

Dan got up from his seat and flopped onto both of their laps like a whale. Both of this jumped and laughed.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said while laying down, putting his arms behind his head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was a little hard to write mainly because I started it before going back to school and then restarted it after the cursed virus took over, but I am still very happy with how it turned out! It is a bit sad writing about college when I myself am about to end it on such a weird note, but I still had a lot of fun. Also there is a lot of drinking in this chapter so uh I don't condone underaged/excessive drinking! Its just uh college.
> 
> Thanks !!

“Maya! Come downstairs and take a shot with us!” PJ yelled towards the staircase. 

Dan and him were both standing in the kitchen wearing button up shirts and nice-ish looking jeans. In Dan’s case, they were the ones that were on his bedroom floor that didn’t seem too dirty. They were all supposed to leave for Kevin’s place in a bit and wanted to pregame before leaving.

Dan knew that he probably shouldn’t rely on alcohol to calm his nerves, but at this moment in his life he couldn’t give a fuck. He usually doesn’t like to drink too much because the hangovers make him want to never drink again. Yet, going out always gives him the jitters so he would rather be a little tipsy than super self-conscious. 

Maya came stomping down the stairs wearing basic mom jeans and a black lace tank top. Her hair was curled with minimal makeup that enhanced her already perfect skin. “Yes please!” she said while typing on her phone. 

PJ pulled out three shot glasses from the cupboard before opening the freezer. “Hey guys, where is the bottle of peach Amsterdam? I can’t find it in here.”

Maya thought for a moment before letting out an “Ah!” and went to their couch. She opened the cushion to reveal the yellow bottle lodged in there. 

Dan laughed and said, “Oh yeah! We left it there last week when your parents came over.” 

She sighed while carrying the bottle to PJ, “The only thing worse than not being 21 is being 21 and still having to pretend that you don’t drink in front of your conservative parents.”

PJ poured out the alcohol into the three glasses while Maya sat down at the bar stool. 

She connected her phone to their speaker downstairs and started to play some typical rager music that you would find at every frat party. 

Dan wrinkled his face in disgust at the audio and asked, “Is there any reason that we are playing music that sounds like it was made by someone who did not have any ears?” 

PJ laughed and replied while passing around the glasses, “Relax, hopefully after a couple these, you won’t be able to tell what song is being played.”

Dan took the glass from him and awaited everyone for the cheesy traditional cheers before downing the cup. 

Maya raised hers as well and declared, “Alright hoes, lets get drunk. Bonjour bitch!” 

Everyone clinked their glasses together before taking the first shot of the night. Dan was no stranger to alcohol as he was a bit of a rebel in highschool, but still made a face after drinking the shot. 

PJ and Maya giggled after theirs and Dan couldn’t help but smile as well.

Maybe tonight was not going to be that bad?

______________

Tonight was definitely going to be bad. 

Dan came to this conclusion after ten minutes they had walked into Kevin’s place. Before they had gone to the door, Maya already prepped them on what to do.

“Okay guys, I’m pretty sure that Kevin is still in the dumps about Leah cheating on him. I can’t even imagine what kind of hurt he is going through. Like what do you do when you figure out that your best friend has been hooking up with your girlfriend?” She shook her head, “I would pretty much avoid all conversation about that with him.”

“Sounds good to me,” PJ replied back, “I hated her from the beginning, at least now I don’t have to pretend anymore. I’m glad his housemates are throwing him a rager for a distraction.”

Upon entering the place, they saw that Kevin’s housemates made sure to invite everyone they could think of. It was packed and full of college students ready to party no matter what. 

There were people that were in corners of the living room just talking and others that were in dance circles with Mr. Brightside blaring from someone’s bluetooth speaker. Some students were talking to each other while others were shamelessly hooking up. While the party wasn’t as chaotic as a frat house would be, it was definitely rowdy. 

Kevin eventually came up to their trio with a big happy-drunk smile. He was wearing a white shirt that already had alcohol stains on it like someone spilled something on him. “Hey guys! Glad that you all came!” He yelled over the loud music. He put an arm around Dan and gushed, “Even Dan’s here! Wow that’s how you know you threw a good party! Welcome dude.” 

Dan rolled his eyes with a smile and replied, “C’mon Kevin, you know that I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

“Alright hoes, I need a drink,” Maya said with a grin, making her way to the kitchen where there were a collection of alcohol and chasers located on the counter. 

Dan, PJ, and Kevin followed her there where they all collectively took a couple more shots. After putting his cup down, Dan could feel how warm he was starting to feel as the alcohol was taking effect. He laughed louder and jokes and was more loose with his actions, putting an arm around both Maya and PJ as they hit the dance floor.

After about half an hour, Dan decided to get some water to slow things down. The party had gotten a lot more crowded as more people were coming through the front door. Time was starting to blur as he got more and more drunk. He was getting to the point where he was unable to feel his face and he knew that was not really a good sign. 

He pulled PJ close and shouted over the noise, “I’m going to grab some water, I’ll be back.”

PJ gave him a thumbs up sign before continuing to dance with Maya and a group of their other friends. 

Dan pushed past people that were in his way so that he could get to the kitchen. He saw Kevin again there talking to a couple of people that Dan did not recognize. As soon as Dan approached the kitchen, he saw Kevin’s face light up with delight. 

“Dan!” Kevin said joyfully as if they had not already seen each other a little while before, “Come meet my housemates! Or as I like to call us, the Four Whores.”

The tallest guy of the group replied, “I thought we agreed that you weren’t allowed to call us that in public.” He had long ginger hair that was loosely tied in a ponytail, fair skin, and blue eyes. 

“Cmon, Sammy! We both know you secretly like having a cool group nickname,” replied back the other mystery housemate. He had brown that was sort of shaggy but definitely styled that way as well as dimples that crowned his mouth when he smiled. He was Asian with tanish skin and was wearing a baby blue dress shirt with jeans. “A cool nickname for a cool group that was able to throw a cool rager.” 

“Shut up Dev. You literally did nothing but announce that we were going to throw a party and then spend the next week deciding what to wear,” replied Sammy while he took a sip from his drink.

“Ah, you’re so mean Sammy!” the guy named Dev said while sticking out his bottom lip in a fake pout. “Stop making me look bad in front of the new guy!”

Dan giggled at the interaction and joked, “No worries, I take admiration in guys that are able to create great ideas but use no work to back it up. It’s a specialty of mine as well. I’m Dan, by the way, and you two must be the famous housemates that I’ve been hearing about lately.”

Kevin put his hands up against Dan’s mouth and whispered, “Don’t tell them that you’ve heard a lot about them! They will let it get to their head that they are great or something.”

As if on cue, Dev put his hand on his hips and replied with a smirk, “I mean of course! I would expect hearing nothing less than having awesome housemates like me that people would be talking!”

Sammy poked the side of Dev’s body and replied, “There is seriously no hope for you, is there?”

“Well you’ve met most of my housemates,” Kevin said turning back to Dan as the other two got into another argument. “There’s also another one that’s around,” he paused to look around for a little, “not really sure where he’s gone at the moment.”

The four of them continued to talk for a bit as Dan sipped his water. He could genuinely feel himself actually having an okay time for once and conversation was flowing easily. He grew very fond of Kevin’s housemates because as chaotic as they sure were, they were also very entertaining. 

Dev slapped the backs of both Dan and Kevin before announcing, “Alright losers, lets get another round of shots on me!”

“What do you mean? The alc has already been paid for by us,” Sammy replied with a questioning look.

“It’s just an expression!”

Dan really knew that he should have some more water and take it easy for the rest of the night if he didn’t want to pay for it in the morning, but he was also having fun.

Fuck it.

“I’m game if you are, Kevin,” Dan announced with a sly grin on his lips.

“Always!”  
______________

The rest of the night was starting to blur together as Dan was reaching a new level of tipsy that is now the highest it has been all night. There were flashes that he remembers of which he dances with Kevin’s housemates. He rejoins PJ at some point of the night and sees that Maya is making out with some random guy in the corner of the living room.

Later in the night, PJ starts talking to another guy that is in one of his classes and Dan being Dan stands awkwardly in the room by himself. He was too drunk to really care that he was alone and started to sway to the music while sipping out of a red solo cup.

At some point, Dan decides that he needs to use the bathroom and starts to stumble upstairs in search for one. He pushes past people that were starting to wind down as the night is starting to come to a close. The music that was blasting earlier in the night has now gone soft and there does not seem to be as many people as there were earlier. There were groups of people that were sitting on the stairs talking to each other and even one guy took out a guitar. Dan rolls his eyes.

If he starts to play Wonderwall, Dan is going to lose it. 

He manages to make it up the stairs in one piece and opens a few doors to search for a toilet. Dan walked through the hallway where he opened a door to a couple hooking up in a closet to which he muttered out an apology before shutting it promptly. After some more tries, he finally finds the bathroom where he is able to break the seal in peace. 

When he emerged from the bathroom back into the hallway, Dan heard a strange noise coming from behind one of the closed doors. He stopped himself to listen to what sounded like someone was either crying loudly or dying. Dan started to get worried and hoped that no one was seriously hurt so he knocked on the door before coming in.

“Hello?” he called out as he opened the door into the room. He stepped into what seemed to be the master bedroom where he saw Kevin sitting on the ground floor clutching a pillow to his chest while he sobbed into it.

Oh.

Dan closed the door quietly behind him and moved over to Kevin to kneel down next to him. “Hey Kev, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

Kevin had glassy eyes and a red nose when he turned to look at Dan. His nose was running and Dan could tell that he had been crying about something for a while now. He sniffled a few times before babbling, “I can’t believe she would do something like that to me! I really thought that she was the one and then..” he trailed off and erupted back into a crying mess. 

Dan realized that this was Leah that Kevin was talking about. 

Over his time in college, Dan had come to the realization that there are different types of drunk people. There are those that are super flirty, those that are the life of the party, and those that are perhaps the worst kind. 

The sad boy drunk. 

“Hey man, it’s okay. Stuff like this happens and we can’t always control what we know. Uh, you know?” Dan replied, putting a hand on his shoulder in comfort.  
He really wasn’t the best person for this job. Dan had never been in a relationship so this was not really his area. Fuck. He was not sober enough for this conversation. 

“Do you want me to, er, call someone for you?” 

Kevin took a break from crying into his pillow to blubber out, “M-my housemate is c-coming back to get me some water.”

Relief filled Dan when he heard this. At least Dev or Sammy would be able to help out in the situation.

As if on cue, Dan heard the door that he came from earlier open behind him. 

“Hey Kev, I’m back. How are we feeling this time?” 

After realizing that it was neither Dev or Sammy that had spoken, Dan turned around and looked at what he understood was the final housemate. 

Phil looked back at him with puzzled eyes and a mouth that slowly turned into a confused grin. “Dan! Nice to see you again. I’m not going to lie, this is not where I thought our next encounter would be, but still a nice surprise,” Phil said while walking to join them both. 

Again, Dan was not sober enough for this interaction. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I giggled when trying to come up with the group name lmao. Please leave a comment <3


End file.
